France’s energy giant TotalEnergies has boosted its oil and gas portfolio in African waters by securing two offshore exploration permits off the coast of Nigeria.
Shortly after TotalEnergies, QatarEnergy, and Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (SNPC) obtained an exploration permit offshore Congo, the French player, which will be the operator with an 80 percent stake, signed a production sharing contract (PSC) for the PPL 2000 and PPL 2001 exploration licenses in Nigerian waters together with its partner, South Atlantic Petroleum (20 percent).
Kevin McLachlan, senior vice-president exploration at TotalEnergies, commented: “TotalEnergies is honored to be the first international company to be awarded exploration licenses in a bid round in Nigeria in more than a decade, marking a new milestone in our long-term partnership with the country.
“These promising block captures are fully aligned with our strategy of strengthening our exploration portfolio with drill-ready and high-impact prospects, that have the potential for low-cost and low-emissions developments from new discoveries in our core areas of expertise.”
These licenses, which were awarded following the 2024 exploration round organised by the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), cover an area of approximately 2,000 square kilometres in the prolific West Delta Basin. TotalEnergies’ work program for the permit duo includes drilling one firm exploration well.
The French player claims that Nigeria is one of the main contributing countries to its hydrocarbon production, with 209,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) produced in 2024.
While TotalEnergies has many assets across Africa, the activities the firm planned in South Africa recently ran into an obstacle as the Western Cape High Court decided to axe the government’s environmental authorisation for offshore drilling in Block 5/6/7.
